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Public Art and Alberta's Regionalism Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Undergraduate Honors Theses 2018-07-07 Public Art and Alberta's Regionalism Amanda Buessecker Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/studentpub_uht Part of the Canadian History Commons, and the Contemporary Art Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Buessecker, Amanda, "Public Art and Alberta's Regionalism" (2018). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 40. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/studentpub_uht/40 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Honors Thesis PUBLIC ART AND ALBERTA’S REGIONALISM By Amanda Buessecker Submitted to Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of graduation requirements for University Honors Art History and Curatorial Studies Brigham Young University August 2018 Advisor: James Swensen Honors Coordinator: Martha Peacock i ii ABSTRACT This thesis is a case study of two contemporary, regionalist public artworks in Alberta: Untitled, by Fraser McGurk, and Alberta Bound Panorama, by Jason Carter. The province’s economic history is outlined as an important background factor to understanding contemporary public artworks. The two artists use symbols such as the train, compass, and grain elevator to connect a contemporary audience with Alberta’s past, reminding today’s residents of the province’s tradition of success. Even in locations that target “tourists,” these paintings use local symbols to emphasize a message of prosperity and unity to the local people of Alberta. iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Background to Canadian Art ...............................................................................................2 Alberta as a Region ..............................................................................................................6 Untitled, Fraser McGurk ......................................................................................................9 Alberta Bound Panorama, Jason Carter ............................................................................14 Bowfort Towers, Del Geist .................................................................................................18 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................20 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................23 FIGURES ...........................................................................................................................27 v vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Lawren Harris, Mt. Lefroy, 1930 ........................................................................27 Figure 2: Fraser McGurk, Untitled, 2013 ..........................................................................28 Figure 3: Jason Carter, Alberta Bound Panorama, 2016 ..................................................28 Figure 4: Fraser McGurk, Bear at Vermilion Lake, 2013 ..................................................29 Figure 5: Indus Elevator, ca. 2002 .....................................................................................30 Figure 6: Del Geist, Bowfort Towers, 2016 .......................................................................31 vii viii 1 Introduction Within Canada, public art—here defined as either privately or publicly commissioned art placed within public spaces—has traditionally borne the weight of speaking both to a diverse population about their shared heritage as well as demonstrating the collective values of the nation to millions of visitors.1 For example, the symbolism of the Inukshuk, an indigenous stone structure used as a location marker, might be discussed as an emblematic guide home; one could further analyze the historic development of the maple leaf motif that is embroidered onto the clothing of nearly every patriotic Canadian. Recent public art commissions within the province of Alberta, however, have actively sought the creation and communication of a regional, rather than national identity for two important reasons: in an era of economic the instability of the early 2000’s, art in the public has been used as a tool to begin rebuilding confidence in the land and its ability to provide. Additionally, art has increasingly important messages of unity within diversity due to the influx of immigrants to the Alberta prairies. This thesis will argue that publicly commissioned paintings by local artists Fraser McGurk and Jason Carter have embraced a regional style and spoken both to and for the Albertan people by instituting and conveying hope for a prosperous future, reliance upon the land, and acceptance of 1 As of 2016, more than 7 million Canadian residents had been born outside of Canada. This accounts for more than one-fifth of the country’s total population. The two largest immigrant populations in 2016 were those of Asian and African origins. See “Immigration and ethnocultural diversity: Key results from the 2016 Census,” Statistics Canada, 25 October 2017. 2 diversity as the public strives to find harmony in an increasingly heterogeneous population. There has been no previous discussion about Alberta’s public art as regionalist in nature. Major academic contributions about Alberta’s art are limited to Suzanne Devonshire Baker’s 1980 collection of Artists of Alberta, Nancy Townshend’s 2005 A History of Art in Alberta, and the 2008 addition of Alberta Art and Artists: An Overview by Patricia Ainslie and Mary-Beth Laviolette. While the most recent publication includes contemporary art, it is already a decade outdated and public art has never been emphasized. This paper will discuss works by Fraser McGurk and Jason Carter as examples of regional Albertan art, as well as Del Geist’s Bowfort Towers and its lack of regionalist qualities. Background to Canadian Art Since the early twentieth century, Canadian art has been discussed as a twentieth- century phenomenon. In 1926, Frederick Housser’s Canadian Art Movement sung the praises of the Group of Seven, a collection of Modernist Canadian painters from Ontario who set out to capture the vast Canadian landscape. The Group of Seven emerged in the previous decade as the Canadian economy boomed through agriculture, hydro-electricity, and mining.2 Even prior to the creation American regional art, the Seven were seeking to paint landscapes of their home’s rural region. Many members of the Seven travelled west 2 Marta H. Hurdalek, The Hague School: Collecting in Canada at the Turn of the Century (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1984), 13. 3 to document the expansive prairies, the expressive skies, and the cascading Rocky Mountains. For a country that had begun as a narrow strip of land along the St. Lawrence River, the western provinces were an emblem of expansion and growth.3 As such, these western landscapes were an important feature to be captured in the group’s quest to paint Canada, and works by Group members, especially Lawren Harris, serve as a foundational inspiration for many of today’s regionalist artists such as McGurk and Carter (see fig. 1).4 Despite the undeniable success of the Group of Seven in bringing national art to the Canadian people, some pushback did occur to the praises that Housser had emitted. In 1927, the year following publication of Housser’s book, Ernest Fosbury wrote a letter to the editor of the Ottawa Journal, addressing three incorrect myths that Housser’s Canadian Art Movement promoted about the Group of Seven: “The Amateur Myth: the fable that the members of the group were amateurs uncontaminated by European influence...the Discovery Myth: the fable that they “discovered” that Canadian landscape was paintable...the National School of Painting Myth: the claim that these men are the first and only Canadian painters, in fact that a national school has arrived.” Fosbury’s label of myth was well founded—Canadian art had been produced prior to the Group of Seven and continues to be produced today. Unfortunately, few have heeded his call to attain a more holistic perspective of Canadian art. The National School of Painting Myth, in particular, is foundational to household conversation about art: not 3 Carl Berger, The Sense of Power: Studies in the Ideas of Canadian Imperialism 1867-1914 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970), 52. 4 Compare the style of Lawren Harris, for example, with those of McGurk and Carter. All outline their shapes with little shading or sense of 3-dimensionality. 4 only was the Group of Seven the arrival of a National School, but myth would describe it as the only national school. Housser’s myths were historically fed, too. Artistically, the Canadian west was seen as too “frontier” in these early years to warrant more than amateur artists, so the Seven’s diligence in capturing western Canada in art was among the first times that professional artists would do so.5 Additionally, the early country was built upon a delicate balance of the quest for independence and a deep loyalty to the crown. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s seventh Prime Minister, was behind a movement to create a Canadian “national consciousness,” though Lamb describes that this came with an “uneasy loyalty to
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